Oliver Rowland storms to victory in Mexico City E-Prix after late safety car

Oliver Rowland stormed through the field after a late safety car to take a triumphant victory in the Mexico City E-Prix.

Rowland held position just behind the leaders for most of the race, the second round in the FIA Formula E championship, and was left with a minute of attack mode left when the first safety car period ended.

It took three stunning overtakes to reach the top step of the podium, the Nissan driver taking the chequered flag at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in front of the Porsche pairing of António Félix da Costa and Pascal Wehrlein.

"The race was a good one," said Rowland.

"In the beginning we were trying to save a bit of energy and stay calm."

"In terms of the safety car at the end there was an element of luck, but I also lost nearly six minutes of attack mode.

"I do honestly think I would have found it hard to win without that safety car because I was struggling a little bit to be efficient after ten laps. In Sao Paulo I had the opposite I was extremely unlucky when I was doing a good race [before] the technical infraction we had.

"We've come here, we've done a solid job in qualifying, we were there in the race to pick up the pieces with a little bit of luck, but I had fun out there and the podium was incredible."

The British driver revealed it was touch-and-go on his energy strategy, consolidating his victory after the safety car emerged for the second time in the final laps. "Had I passed them [in race conditions] I would have consumed too much and lost the lead," said Rowland, admitting his push during attack mode was a last-ditch effort.

The three overtakes came as a surprise, even for him. "I knew I wouldn't have energy after that, so I was going to give it a go," said the Nissan driver.

The final safety car emerged after heartbreak for Kiwi Mitch Evans, who exited the race after the final safety car after colliding with the slow-moving Andretti of Nico Mueller.

The Jaguar TCS Racing driver had come into Mexico City in the lead of the standings after victory in round one, relinquishing the position to da Costa. The Portuguese Porsche driver has a twelve-point lead over race winners Rowland and Evans after his own second-place finishes in the first two rounds of the championship.

Porsche leads McLaren in the teams' standings fifty-eight points to twenty-nine after da Costa and Wehrlein completed the podium in Mexico City after locking out the front row of the grid for the first time.

"There are some strong teams here," said Wehrlein. "We have a super strong package but every weekend we just have to deliver."

Despite early strategy predictions showing there would be less "pack racing" with drivers having to push throughout the race, it was a class Formula E battle of the modern era, with the field mostly holding station until the first round of attack mode activations.

Andretti's Jake Dennis took the lead on lap 15 as team strategy came to the fore, with the Andretti, Porsche, and DS Penske drivers all working together to leapfrog through the lead pack.

António Félix da Costa moved up into the top spot on lap 18, Dennis briefly back into the lead for one lap before the Porsche pair regained the lead into the second phase of attack mode activations.

Rowland had just activated his for a six-minute period when the first safety car came out for the stranded Cupra of David Beckmann. With just over a minute remaining when racing resumed, he stormed through on lap 30 before the order was consolidated under a final safety car after Mitch Evans' collision.

The FIA Formula E World Championship returns mid-February for a double-header in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.